The field of this invention relates to connectors and more particularly to a connector for a pair of shipping containers so that there will be in essence formed a single size container composed of the smaller container sizes.
Shipping containers that are used within ships and trucks are of a standard size with that size being of a length of almost twenty feet. All the equipment that is used in handling of the containers is designed for this size of container. This equipment has to do with the dock equipment to move the containers onto and off of the ship and when located within the cargo holds of the ship, the equipment contained within the cargo holds is designed to secure to this specific length of container. Additionally, a twenty foot length container can be readily transported by truck and the trucks are designed, again, to accommodate this specific length of container.
These containers are normally used by manufacturers or distributors of products. It is the purpose of these containers to transport the products from one country to another. The least expensive shipping price per volume of shipping space is if an entire shipping container is utilized. If a particular manufacturer or distributor does not need an entire twenty foot container but, let's say, only the volume of the equivalent to six or seven foot container, then that manufacture or distributor must pay a substantially increased fee in relation to the volume acquired.
There are shipping containers designed which are of a length smaller than the almost twenty foot length. Such shipping containers are available that are half size, a third size and some even are one-quarter size of the typical twenty foot container. However, when it comes to handling of these smaller sized containers, and placing such on and removing such from a ship and placing such on trucks, it would be far more cost effective if the smaller size containers could be securely connected together so that they could be handled as though it was a single twenty foot length container.
The ends of these smaller sized containers have been designed to include corner blocks with there being four in number of corner blocks for an end of a small size container. An end of a small size container is to be aligned in close proximity to an end of another small size container. Each of these corner blocks include openings of a specific size. Between each aligned pair of openings of a pair of corner blocks of the different shipping containers is located a connector. This connector is to be locatable in a collapsed or installing position between a pair of these aligned openings. This connector is then moved to an expanded condition which causes the connector to become tightly bound to the side walls of these openings resulting in fixedly securing the containers together into in essence a single container structure. The net result is that the connected together containers can be moved in unison into and out off the hold of a ship and onto the bed of a truck thereby eliminating the need for separate handling of the containers.
The connectors that have been utilized in the past to achieve this end result are known to have many disadvantages. One of the primary disadvantages is that they are complicated in construction and therefore expensive to manufacture and expensive to purchase. Additionally, some of these connectors require manual holding of the connector in place as it is being installed. This means that the hand of a human being is located between a pair of containers that actually weigh thousands of pounds as the containers are moved in position to be connected together. Inherently, this is a potentially dangerous situation and it is not unknown that an individual's hand has become crushed during such connecting of the containers. Additionally, some of the container connectors of the prior art do not positively lock the containers together but permit a small amount of movement between the separate containers. Even a small amount of movement is not desirable.